Item Type: Cinderella Oval Casserole 045/945 Series
Years Manufactured: Fall 1958
Values: Check below on Ebay for approximate prices
Sizes and ID#s: 045 (2 1/2 quart)
Original Box#s: 945 CWI

This is another really distinctive promotional piece that is called the “Hearts” or “Golden Hearts” Oval Casserole. It features striking gold leaf hearts that alternate in a pattern of normal and upside-down. Each heart is divided into dark and light parts, and the lighter halves of the heart have a single asterisk inside them. The base color is an ivory yellow in color. It’s a standard 045 2.5 quart casserole with a clear lid (our lid was marked 945).

Here’s a closeup of the hearts pattern… it’s sort of difficult to get the gold leaf to show up while minimizing reflections:

We found ours at an estate sale. This was supposedly made on in the Fall of 1958 as a promotional piece and we have seen a few pictures of it in catalogs. In addition, these have appeared in original boxes occasionally on ebay. The box is orange and says “Pyrex Deluxe Cinderella Casserole”. Unfortunately, the box number was obscurred on the photo we saw. It was called a deluxe casserole because it came with a brass cradle with the usual white handles. This cradle had receptacles for two candle warmers.

One interesting thing about the pattern that we weren’t able to identify until we had gotten a closeup look at it, is that the filled in portion of the gold hearts have a dotted pattern to them. You can see this in the extreme closeup picture below. It’s not visible from far away. It actually looks like a wavy screenprint or something. I wonder if this was on all the pieces, or just the few we’ve seen?